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Email Security Appliance FirmwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2022-20772

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-11-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.0.3-015 / 14.2.0-217 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A vulnerability in Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct an HTTP response splitting attack. This vulnerability is due to the failure of the application or its environment to properly sanitize input values. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting malicious HTTP headers, controlling the response body, or splitting the response into multiple responses.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

HTTP response splitting vulnerability in Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager. The application fails to properly sanitize input values, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to inject malicious HTTP headers, control the response body, or split the HTTP response into multiple responses.

MitigationApply the Cisco security patch/update for this vulnerability. Until patched, monitor for suspicious HTTP header injection attempts in ESA and Secure Email and Web Manager logs.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Email Security Appliance FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 13.5.1, < 14.0.3-015>= 14.1, < 14.2.1-015>= 14.3, < 14.3.0-023
Secure Email And Web Manager FirmwareOperating system
Affected:>= 14.2, < 14.2.0-217>= 14.3, < 14.3.0-115

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed product
    Access the web interface or CLI of the device and confirm whether it is Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) or Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager. In the CLI, use the 'version' command to display the product name and firmware version.
    Affected if The device is running Cisco ESA or Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager firmware.
  2. Check ESA firmware version against affected ranges
    Run the 'version' command on the ESA CLI and compare the displayed firmware version to the affected ranges: 13.5.1 to 14.0.3-015, 14.1 to 14.2.1-015, and 14.3 to 14.3.0-023. Versions below 14.0.3-015, below 14.2.1-015, or below 14.3.0-023 are affected.
    Affected if The ESA firmware version falls within any of the affected ranges.
  3. Check Secure Email and Web Manager firmware version against affected ranges
    Run the 'version' command on the Secure Email and Web Manager CLI and compare the displayed firmware version to the affected ranges: 14.2 to 14.2.0-217, and 14.3 to 14.3.0-115. Versions below 14.2.0-217 or below 14.3.0-115 are affected.
    Affected if The Secure Email and Web Manager firmware version falls within any of the affected ranges.
  4. Verify web interface is accessible
    Confirm that the HTTP/HTTPS web interface of the ESA or Secure Email and Web Manager is enabled and reachable from network segments where attackers could send malicious requests.
    Affected if The web interface is exposed without proper network access controls.
  5. Inspect logs for HTTP header injection attempts
    Review ESA or Secure Email and Web Manager logs for suspicious patterns in HTTP requests that may indicate HTTP response splitting attacks, such as unexpected newline characters (CRLF) in headers or multiple header fields injected into requests.
    Affected if Log analysis reveals attempts to inject HTTP headers or anomalous request patterns consistent with response splitting.

A user is affected if their device runs Cisco ESA or Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager with a firmware version within the specified affected ranges and the web interface is accessible to potential attackers.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 14.0.3-015 / 14.2.0-217 / 14.2.1-015 or later
Fixed in 14.0.3-01514.2.0-21714.2.1-015
Interim mitigation

Apply the Cisco security patch/update for this vulnerability. Until patched, monitor for suspicious HTTP header injection attempts in ESA and Secure Email and Web Manager logs.

Recommended fix High confidence

ESA: 14.0.3-015, 14.2.1-015, or 14.3.0-023 (depending on current branch); Secure Email and Web Manager: 14.2.0-217 or 14.3.0-115

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) or Secure Email and Web Manager firmware version
  2. 2. For ESA devices: If running 13.5.1 to < 14.0.3, upgrade to 14.0.3-015 or later; if running 14.1 to < 14.2.1, upgrade to 14.2.1-015 or later; if running 14.3 to < 14.3.0, upgrade to 14.3.0-023 or later
  3. 3. For Secure Email and Web Manager devices: If running 14.2 to < 14.2.0, upgrade to 14.2.0-217 or later; if running 14.3 to < 14.3.0, upgrade to 14.3.0-115 or later
  4. 4. Download the appropriate firmware from Cisco (requires valid support contract)
  5. 5. Follow Cisco's standard ESA/Secure Email and Web Manager firmware upgrade procedures
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify the system is functioning correctly and the vulnerability is resolved
Caveat Review Cisco release notes for any configuration or behavioral changes between versions before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Email Security Appliance Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-20772 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data